3-run homer lifts Chicago Cubs over Chicago White Sox 5-4

Geovany Soto 7th-inning blast the difference in City Series game

With passion high in the stands and in the Cubs' dugout, Chicago's City Series resumed on the South Side. And it was boom ball beating out small ball as the Cubs fought their way to a 5-4 victory.

The Cubs, who broke a four-game losing streak, took a 2-1 lead in the season series, with two more on tap Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

But it will be hard to match the emotion of this one, played on a perfect baseball afternoon before an into-it, sun-kissed crowd of 39,015, the second sellout at the Cell this season.

"The city has a lot of passion," winning pitcher Randy Wells said. "Cub fans love the Cubs, Sox fans love the Sox. When the two teams meet, it's a pretty cool atmosphere.

"I try not to get fired up, but warming up in the bullpen, you could tell it was going to be a little rowdy."

Presumably, Wells was talking about the fans and not Bradley, who knocked over a dugout water cooler, threw a helmet and had a vocal confrontation with manager Lou Piniella in the dugout and clubhouse after flying out in the sixth inning.

"I told him to take his uniform off and go home," Piniella said. "It has been a common occurrence, and I've looked the other way a lot."

Bradley left without comment, and Piniella said he would be in the lineup Saturday, although he might have to apologize first.

Whatever it is about the South Side, it sure brings out the worst in the Cubs, dating to 2006, when Michael Barrett started a bench-clearing brawl by slugging Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

But this time the game overshadowed the sideshow.

Each team socked two homers, but Geovany Soto was the hero for his seventh-inning, three-run blast off loser Jose Contreras into the left-field seats. Because Jake Fox (single) and Mike Fontenot (error) were on base, it gave the Cubs a 5-2 lead.

"It feels great to just play," said Soto, who has been banned from international competition for two years because of a positive test for marijuana in March. "As soon as I come in here, nothing matters but the game.

"I felt great. It is really electrifying here."

The electricity was flowing through the power outlet.

Jermaine Dye's homer in the first gave the Sox the first edge. Then Cubs rookie Fox shot one out in the second with Derrek Lee on base for a 2-1 lead that reverted to a tie in the bottom of the inning on Jim Thome's opposite-field homer.

"Just to hear the crowd roar was awesome," an excited Fox said. "That seemed to me like as close as you can get to a playoff game.

"People are standing up, yelling, cheering and screaming on every hit, every run scored. Everything means so much. It was really cool to see."

There was one last hurdle for the Cubs' pitching staff as the Sox rallied for two runs off reliever Carlos Marmol in the eighth inning.

But on left-hander Sean Marshall's first pitch, pinch-hitter Pierzynski grounded into a bases-loaded, inning-ending double play.

"I was probably the most pumped-up person," said Marshall, who gave way to Kevin Gregg in the ninth for the save.

It was that kind of afternoon at the sizzling Cell.

"Great, awesome," Wells said of the atmosphere for his second major league victory. "Biggest game I pitched so far in my life."